SA left lacks leadership and vision

The outcry by many workers that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) sold them out during the recent public workers strike, and the inability of the broader left to link-up and consolidate the various initiatives towards a strong left alternative, reflects a crisis of leadership in South Africa. It also reflects a leadership whose actions are not necessarily informed by the mandate of the people and the conditions they face.

The cry of the most marginalised communities is for political and organisational platforms that returns power to the people and puts them at the centre of the formulation and implementation of policy decisions. Part of this cry is for radical left political parties and sociopolitical movements to consolidate themselves into a strong and dynamic alternative capable of seizing political and economic power and locating it in the hands of the people through genuine participatory democratic and egalitarian processes and structures. Unfortunately it seems as if it is the rightwing and centrist capitalist parties that are more serious in consolidating themselves to replace the neo-liberal capitalist politics of the ANC.

The new relationship between the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Independent Democrats (ID), which will ultimately result in the dissolution of the ID into the DA, once again reflects how rightwing and centrist parties can overlook the differences among the various models of capitalism to galvanise themselves around a shared vision and common goals.

The ability to put more emphasis on points of agreement, rather than disagreement, and to put collective vision above differences in personalities, leadership style and organisational cultures requires the subjugation of personal and organisational egos to the ultimate goal of the collective. This in itself requires selflessness, foresight, pragmatism and innovativeness. It is therefore ironical and tragic that rightwing and centrist parties fare far better than leftist parties and movements when it comes to the ability to work together around a common program of action centered on a shared ideological and political program, and informed by the practical conditions on the ground.

At the moment the masses of South Africa are crying for an alternative way of doing politics - away from the capture of state power and the economy by a tiny political and corporate elite. This is an opportune moment for leftists of all shades to move out of an ideological straightjacket and find each other so as to build a powerful, grassroots-based, people-centered radical alternative to the way politics and the economy are run.

While rightwing capitalist parties seem determined to risk moving out of their comfort zones so as to embrace each other and find ways of consolidating their presence even at the expense of some parties swallowed up by others, leftist parties and movements seem to still be concerned about flags, personalities and names.

In the main, they are still spending too much time on what particular brand of socialism, Black Consciousness or Pan-Africanism is being sold than what points of agreement there might be. They are too afraid to re-imagine a way of viewing and (re) making the world which Frantz Fanon, Steve Biko, Lillian Ngoyi, Leopold Senghor, Cheik Anta Diop, Rosa Luxemburg, Amlicar Cabral, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Tomas Sankara, and Vladimir Lenin could not have imagined. Rather than update, build on, and move beyond the thoughts and actions of these thinkers and activists, our leftists are keener to imitate them, regurgitate their sayings, recycle their ideas, fight over their tombs and claim sole right to interpret their words and deeds.

The main barrier to alliances, coalitions, partnerships and cooperation between left-leaning political parties and socio-political movements is more to do with personal and organisational egos, dogmatism and fear of trying something new than with the shortage of areas of agreement or lack of possibilities for alternative ways of doing things. If the issue of a name can be such a stumbling block, why can’t the Azanian People's Organisation (Azapo) and Socialist Party of Azania (Sopa) simply settle for Azapo/Sopa and get on with the real work of building real people’s power on the ground? If capitalists beat socialists with regard to finding ways of working together despite their differences, why should socialists claim the superiority of socialism above capitalism as its egalitarian ethos? How do you adhere to the socialist ethos of sharing, caring and compassion when you are forever in competition with each other and hardly ever find an excuse to cooperate?

Currently there are three processes that are aimed at looking for alternatives. The September National Indaba is taking place on the 24 - 27 September in Soweto, the Truth Conference is taking place in Durban on the same weekend and there is a Congress of the Left. While the September National Indaba has sent a message of support to the organisers of the Truth Conference, there is little sharing of notes or establishment of linkages between these initiatives. Yes, there are political and ideological differences, but I am sure there are areas of agreement within the broader left.

Why is it that leftists dwell more on areas of disagreement among themselves and never bother to tap into the area of agreement? The objective conditions on the ground calls for broader unity of the left - and so do people at the grassroots. Is this the case of a leadership sitting in ivory towers, far removed from the bread-and-butter issues that the masses of poor people are grappling with?

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* Mphutlane wa Bofelo is a cultural worker and social critic.
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